The present invention relates generally to implantable medical devices. More particularly, it pertains to sharing information based on data acquired in the process of operating implantable medical devices.
A normal human heart beats between 60 to 100 times per minute. However, when a person gets excited or frightened or has an illness such as congenital heart disease, the heart may beat faster than 100 times per minute. A disruption in the normal heart rate or rhythm is known as arrhythmia.
Arrhythmias are caused by abnormal functioning of the electrical conduction of the heart. Normally, the chambers of the heart (atria and ventricles) work in a coordinated manner. The electrical conduction begins with an electrical impulse originating in the sinoatrial node. This impulse is then moved through the atria, stimulates them to contract, and then is moved to its final destination at the ventricles, where it stimulates them to contract also. Any problems along this conduction path may cause arrhythmia.
Certain types of arrhythmia are lethal and may cause severe damage to various organs in the body by initially decreasing the pumping of the heart. When the pumping of the heart is decreased by more than a few seconds, blood circulation is essentially stopped, and organ damage (such as brain damage) may occur within a few minutes.
Arrhythmias have been treated by the use of a pacemaker that applies shock therapy. A pacemaker is a medical device that delivers controlled electrical pulses to an electrode that is implanted adjacent to or in the heart. These controlled electrical pulses stimulate the heart so that it will contract and beat at a desired rate. The delivery of these controlled electrical pulses is often tailored to the individual patient.
The process of tailoring a therapy to the specific patient is iteratively performed by a physician. The process involves many tests that must be repeated until the physician can extract operating parameters for the pacemaker. The physician may have to re-enter data for the same test at each repeated interval. This problem has burdened the physician in terms of time. What has also been frustrating is that certain data acquired is needed in other parts of the tailoring process yet this data cannot presently be shared.
Thus, what is needed are systems, structures, and methods to share information in systems including implantable medical devices.
The above-mentioned problems with the use of data in systems including implantable medical devices as well as other problems are addressed by the present invention and will be understood by reading and studying the following specification. Systems, structures, and methods are described which ease the sharing of data in applications involving an implantable medical device.
In particular, an illustrative embodiment includes an exemplary system that includes an implantable medical device implanted in a patient. The system comprises a first application executing a first diagnostic test. The first application acquires a set of data from the implantable medical device in executing the first diagnostic test. The system further comprises a second application that initiates a second diagnostic test. The first application shares a portion of the data acquired with the second application so that the second application need not acquire the portion of the set of data.
Another illustrative embodiment includes an exemplary system that includes an implantable medical device. The system comprises a database to store a set of data acquired from the implantable medical device. The system further comprises an application executing on the system. The database shares a portion of the set of data acquired in operating the implantable medical device so that the application need not acquire the portion of the set of data.
Another illustrative embodiment includes an exemplary system that includes an implantable medical device. The system comprises an information miner to mine information generated in the system. The system further comprises an application executing on the system. The desire of the application for a portion of the information mined by the information miner is detected. The information miner shares the portion of the information it has mined so that the application need not acquired the portion of the information.
Another illustrative embodiment includes an exemplary method of sharing information in a system that includes an implantable medical device. The method comprises acquiring a set of data, executing an application, and sharing at least a portion of the set of data with the application so the portion of the set of data need not be acquired by the application.
These and other embodiments, aspects, advantages, and features of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following description of the invention and drawings or by practice of the invention. The aspects, advantages, and features of the invention are realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities, procedures, and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.